| Art Alexion on 3 Nov 2007 18:16:31 -0000 |
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On Friday, 26 October 2007 22:18, Matthew Rosewarne wrote: > > the real question isn't "how do we make lots of stuff?" but rather > > "what the hell should we even make?" real wealth growth in a healthy > > capitalist world economy derives from research and development (R&D, > > aka creativity / innovation). > > I didn't say we don't need development, just that we _do_ need to have an > industrial backbone to support that brain. Innovation and production isn't > an either/or, as we've been very good at doing them both for most of the > 20th century. I've gotta support Matt here. We've been gradually sold a bill of goods as we have stopped seeing ourselves as "workers" and started seeing ourselves as "consumers". As consumers we are in a race to the bottom economically. It is normal to want stuff, but the question is "do we get that stuff by forcing low costs at the expense of labor, or do we get it by being able to afford a reasonable price because we earn enough money through our jobs?" I know this is not really fashionable thinking these days. I'm not sure there are historic examples because today's globalization mechanisms weren't possible in the past. But in the near future, capital benefits from cheap goods even more than labor, but as Ross Perot said in the 1992 election, you can't succeed by firing your customers." Eventually, US capital will suffer from the loss of US markets. And who says we have some kind of monopoly on knowledge and creativity. The future is with those countries that develop creativity on the foundation of their now-growing manufacturing. I find it depressing for the world of my children; perhaps they will be able to do what my father and maternal grandparents did -- move to a "land of opportunity." -- _____________________________________________________________ Art Alexion PGP fingerprint: 52A4 B10C AA73 096F A661 92D2 3B65 8EAC ACC5 BA7A Keyserver: hkp://subkeys.pgp.net The attachment - signature.asc - is my electronic signature; no need for alarm. Info @ http://mysite.verizon.net/art.alexion/encryption/signature.asc.what.html _____________________________________________________________ Attachment:
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